Deborah Saville - Head of Safety and Wellbeing

What is your current role?

I’m the Head of Safety and Wellbeing here at Clarion, which means that I’m responsible for evolving, leading and implementing our safety culture and strategy to ensure a safe and health working environment for our colleagues, as well as supporting the business to manage key health and safety risks affecting our customers and properties.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I like the fact that I’m still able to maintain a reasonably ‘hands on’ approach to safety and wellbeing allowing me to regularly interact with colleagues and keep in touch with what’s happening across the organisation. I’m also very proud to be able to play my part in transforming and growing safety and wellbeing throughout Clarion, with my ultimate goal being that colleagues choose to work safely rather than simply being told they have to.

Sometimes I have to focus on a particular technical aspect of safety that requires me to explore and expand my knowledge in that area, and I always find this interesting, regardless of the subject.

Safety is always evolving, and it’s exciting to be able to explore and develop our approach to human factors and how they affect health and safety. This includes looking at proactive ways to improve safety behaviours and embed a culture where people choose to work safely, and don’t walk by when they see something that could be unsafe.

There is also a lot of cross over between health and safety and a person’s wellbeing, and I’m constantly looking to develop our safety approach to ensure wellbeing is always included as a key risk area rather than viewed as a standalone campaign.

How has your career developed with Clarion Housing Group?

I joined the business in July 2012, having come from a previous role in Health and Safety, and have always worked in the Health and Safety team here. My role has evolved over the years, most recently to include wellbeing, and I’m now very proud to represent Clarion as the Head of Safety and Wellbeing.

I am naturally curious and keen to learn, and Clarion has been very supportive throughout my career with both my professional and personal development, which has in turn allowed me to use my knowledge and experience to help shape and steer safety and wellbeing across the organisation.

What advice would you give to someone looking to join your team?

Safety is a very varied subject, and it can be daunting at first, but at its heart, safety is about asking lots of questions to figure out the safest way of doing something, rather than finding ways to stop things going ahead, which is how it’s often portrayed. You don’t always have to have all the answers, but if you enjoy delving into problems and finding solutions, then why not see if you like it?

What is your favourite work memory?

I have lots of good memories, so it’s hard to pick one. I really enjoy being able to spend time with my team when we get together for team meetings, and we always try to build in some fun team building activities.

I’m not sure any of us are that good at drawing games, guessing games involving animal noises or building spaghetti towers or bridges, but we really do try. I will say that my paper aeroplane may have flown the farthest, but with no independent adjudication it was never formally verified. While the make-up of the team has changed over the years, the close bond, trust, and sense of fun haven’t changed at all.

Tell us an interesting fact about you

I’m an avid motorcyclist and have been fortunate enough to ride my own motorbike in America on two occasions and regularly tour in Europe. I’m able to completely switch off from everything when riding, focussing only on the road and what’s going on around me, so I find it really helps me to de-stress with the epic scenery and amazing food being a bonus!